


Parenting 101

by TakingOverMidnight3482



Series: Think Outside the Love Square [3]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Gen, Identity Reveal, Minor whump, i love them, sabine and tom are the parents adrien deserves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 20:19:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16249118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TakingOverMidnight3482/pseuds/TakingOverMidnight3482
Summary: He nodded. “Help us by not putting yourselves in danger. Marinette is...I consider her a friend. I couldn’t bear to see what would happen if she lost you.”Sabine reached out, cupping his cheek tenderly, and Chat instantly shut his eyes and let his head lean into her palm. His throat bobbed and Sabine smiled. “I can’t promise that, sweetie. But we’ll give it a shot. You need anything before you leave?”Chat’s eyes snapped open and he straightened, letting his arms drop from their crossed position so that he was tapping his fingers together. His ring was at two paw pads. “Uh...weird question, but do you have anything made with cheese?”





	Parenting 101

**Author's Note:**

> Can't have a series of reveals without the parents. But I was in the mood for Adrien whump/illness, so I combined the two lol

“How long have you known?” Sabine asked quietly, standing in the doorway to the living room with a mug of steaming tea in her hands. 

Tom muted the news footage of Ladybug and Chat Noir giving a late-night interview with Nadja and turned to look at his wife, studying her relaxed form, how it was betrayed by the way her fingers trembled around her cup. “A few weeks ago,” he admitted, tilting his head towards the couch next to him. “Went up to ask her if she wanted a fresh macaroon - you know how she’s been about those lately - and caught Ladybug sneaking out of her window.” 

Sabine chuckled, sinking into the comforting form of her husband and picking up the discarded remote to turn the television’s sound back on. “That’s about how I figured out,” she said, shaking her head and sipping at her tea. “Except I literally caught her transforming in the middle of the living room.” 

“I know we tease Marinette about being clumsy, but this seems absurd,” Tom snorted, rubbing Sabine’s shoulder. 

“Do you think she knows Chat is Adrien?” 

“Doubtful. Do you see how she speaks to Chat Noir? No stammering, or hesitating, or awkwardness. If she knew, it wouldn’t be like that.” 

Sabine hummed and watched as Ladybug and Chat Noir left the screen. They had about five minutes. “Have you told her?” 

Tom shot her a side glance, lifting a brow. “That I know? No. I thought about it, for a long time. If you’re asking, I assume you didn’t either.” 

Sabine shook her head. “No. I almost did, at first. And I will, if it starts getting seriously dangerous or if her schoolwork starts slipping too much. But…” 

“She’d be worried about us all the time,” Tom finished, shutting off the television all together and letting the room sink into the comforting glow of the floor lamp behind them. “More so than usual, I assume.” 

“If I’m being honest, I’ve thought of telling Adrien more,” Sabine admitted, her voice sheepish. 

Tom cocked his head. “Why’s that?” 

“Well...the few times he’s been over here...he scarfs our pastries, he stiffens to our hugs, he seems nervous all the time around us. His father isn’t very present outside of his company, so I can’t imagine he’s present at home,” Sabine mused, twisting her mug in her hands and frowning at the designs etched into it. “What if he were to get hurt as Chat Noir? He couldn’t go to his father, the media would freak out about it. If he could know that he could trust us…” 

“I see what you mean. I fear we don’t know him well enough, though.” 

Sabine glanced up at the thumping sound from Marinette’s bedroom. “I do too,” she whispered. “It’s a thought though, isn’t it?” 

“It’s a very good thought, sweetheart. He’s a good kid. So is Marinette. I trust them to know when they have to turn to us for help. We’ll just….need to make it more apparent to Adrien when he’s over that we can be those people.” 

Marinette’s door opened and her foots sounded on the stairs. “Mom? Papa? Are there any cookies left?” 

Sabine’s lips twitched in a smile. “I know superhero's probably burn a lot of calories, but I don’t know where she puts them all,” she murmured, and then, louder, “Yes dear! Jar in the kitchen!” 

Tom snorted. “I have my theories, after that Queen Bee incident with Chloe. That floating bee thing?” 

Sabine glanced towards the kitchen, where they could see Marinette bustling about fixing up a plate of cookies and milk. “Think she has a similar one?” 

“I have a hunch that that’s where all my baking goes.” 

“You know, your hunches usually are pretty correct.” 

~~ 

So they baked more cookies, left more of them in various places around the home, noticed them vanishing from even the most obscure locations. They stayed quiet, laid off on Marinette when she seemed particularly tired or missed class and they knew that Ladybug had been fighting. 

Started letting her sleep in longer on the weekends, subtly prodded her into going to bed earlier, and, whenever an akuma came near their business, they did their best to either help civilians nearby or trap the victim for Ladybug and Chat Noir. 

After one such incident, which resulted in the destruction of Tom’s new oven and all of the windows in the bakery, Ladybug approached them, frowning. Chat was taking care of the now de-transformed victim, so the parents set their gazes on their daughter. 

“Thanks for the save, Ladybug,” Tom chuckled. “I just got that stove. Would’ve been disappointed if I had to get another one.” 

Ladybug shook her head, lips pursed. “You two have been putting yourselves in the line of akumas a lot lately. That’s dangerous, you can’t be doing that. We appreciate you hiding the citizens nearby, that’s completely fine. But luring the victims in here and putting yourself in harms way? What if you got hurt?” 

They both heard it, the way her breath hitched, and Sabine instantly softened and put her hands on Ladybug’s shoulders. “We have faith in you, dear. We would never put ourselves in harms way without a way out, please know that. We just…you do so much for all of us, both of you,” she added as Chat Noir came over, the victim bundled into the back of a taxi to go home. “We want to be able to help, in some way.” 

“You’ve been doing that, by helping civilians,” Chat said, his voice low. “But I know for a fact that if you got hurt...what about your daughter? What would she do without you?” 

The parents started and glanced at one another, then back to the kids in front of them. “You two have to understand,” Tom started, choosing his words carefully. “Marinette is the most capable teenager we know. And that’s not bias, either. Like I said, we don’t put ourselves in a path we aren’t certain we can’t get out of. If our daughter can charge into battle to help you out, then so can we. And don’t deny it - we know she’s done it more than once. Don’t think we didn’t hear about the Evil Illustrator incident.” 

He shot a look a Chat and the boy winced, rubbing the back of his neck. Sabine squeezed Ladybug’s shoulders and let her hands drop. “We’re capable. And if you two ever need anything from us, and I mean anything, you just call, okay?” 

Her earrings beeped and Tom and Sabine knew that was the end of the discussion, watching as she bolted from the room and swung away, most likely to the roof right above them. Chat stayed a moment, tail swishing thoughtfully as he studied the two. “Can we help you, honey?” Sabine asked. 

Chat startled, his arms moving to hug himself in a very un-Chat-like motion. “Uh...you meant that, about helping us whenever?” 

“Of course, dear.” 

He nodded. “Help us by not putting yourselves in danger. Marinette is...I consider her a friend. I couldn’t bear to see what would happen if she lost you.” 

Sabine reached out, cupping his cheek tenderly, and Chat instantly shut his eyes and let his head lean into her palm. His throat bobbed and Sabine smiled. “I can’t promise that, sweetie. But we’ll give it a shot. You need anything before you leave?” 

Chat’s eyes snapped open and he straightened, letting his arms drop from their crossed position so that he was tapping his fingers together. His ring was at two paw pads. “Uh...weird question, but do you have anything made with cheese?” 

“Oh absolutely. Our Brie Danish's are to die for,” Tom said, moving behind the counter and grabbing four, which he put into a brown bag for the cat. 

Chat put his hands up, protesting, and shook his head. “I just need one, it’s okay.” 

Tom shoved the whole bag against his chest and let go, forcing the boy to scramble and grab it before it hit the floor. “You’ll take all of them. You’re too skinny.” 

Chat’s shoulders slumped and his eyes glittered behind his mask. “Thank you, sir. Ma’am.” 

He nodded to them and ducked out of the shop, leaving Tom to pull Sabine close to his side. “Definitely not eating enough at home.” 

“He is a model,” Sabine mused under her breath. “Perhaps his father has him on a diet.” 

“At that age? He should be eating everything in sight.” 

And so it went that they began leaving cheese pastries on the window sill. At first, they would find them covered in bugs in the morning, untouched, but after about a week, the plates were licked clean. 

They got to know Adrien better as he came over more, learned that his favorite dessert was a simple chocolate chip cookie or a snickerdoodle, and began leaving those out in addition to the cheeses. 

His cheeks got a bit fuller the more this went on, his smiles brighter as he grew comfortable with them as Adrien, and Sabine was about ready to adopt the boy herself, if not for the fact that Adrien seemed to genuinely love his father, despite everything he was put through. 

Purely for their daughter’s mental sanity, Tom and Sabine stopped luring in the akumas, merely evacuated people off the streets and into the bakery when the akuma got too close. It seemed to help Marinette to know that her parents weren’t going to be swinging any kind of rolling pin or broom at a rampaging villain. 

If it kept her calm and safe during battle, Tom and Sabine were willing to do anything. 

~~ 

Chat Noir wasn’t at his top game during battle, even Sabine could see that from the television monitor. It was nearly three am, so she could only assume he was exhausted, as was Ladybug. It was lucky the next day was a Sunday, and thus the two had no school. 

The particular villain wasn’t anything too terrible; in fact, Sabine wasn’t sure what it actually was classified as. His hits disoriented people, from what she could tell, made them unable to walk straight or think straight - probably someone with a broken heart who got drunk late into the night. 

But when Chat bolted from the news footage, faster than she had ever seen him move, Sabine knew it was more than just the exhaustion weighing on him. Call it mothers intuition, but she pushed from her seat on the couch and went to the balcony, leaning against the railing and peering into the streets. 

Tom was downstairs, prepping dough for the morning as he always did during late night akuma attacks; with the street alarms, it became difficult to sleep during the more and more frequent attacks. 

She yelped, embarrassingly, as Chat Noir landed on her balcony and promptly tilted into her. His face was burning, his cheeks and ears red, and he was trembling. “Chat?” she gasped, catching the boy and easing him onto his feet. “The akuma-?” 

Chat shook his head and groaned, clapping a hand over his mouth. “Fine. Used Cataclysm. Ladybug’s cleansing it n...where is your bathroom?” 

“It’s just down the hall to the-” 

He bolted inside, nearly tripping over his own tail, and Sabine followed, glancing at the TV in time to see Ladybug throw her yo-yo into the air and fix everything. Marinette always pretended to sleep through akuma attacks, so Sabine shut off the television and made the room go dark, moving quickly towards the bathroom. 

The sounds of vomiting reached her and she cringed, moving faster and dropping onto the floor next to Chat, threading her fingers into his hair as he puked. “I take it this isn’t from the akuma,” she whispered. 

Chat managed a single shake of his head, shoulders hunching as he retched again. Sabine moved her other hand to rub between his shoulder blades. “You went into battle sick?” 

He nodded, miserably, and Sabine pursed her lips. “Did Ladybug know?” 

Another nod, another retch, and then Chat slumped against the toilet, arm bracing against the cold porcelain to keep his face from hitting the seat. His ring beeped, showing off the very prominent one paw pad, and he groaned, fingers curling into the palms of his hands. 

Sabine pursed her lips and shut the bathroom door behind her, pulling her phone from her pocket and dialing Tom downstairs. He picked up after the first ring, voice concerned. “The alarms stopped going off, everything okay?” 

“No. Can you bring up some cheese Danish, and grab the Tylenol and cold medicine from the cabinet? Adrien is throwing up in the toilet.” 

Chat Noir tensed under her hand but Sabine merely kept rubbing his back, focusing her gaze somewhere on the wall above the sink. 

“...you’re in there with him now?” 

“Yes.” 

“All right. Does-?” 

“No. She’s asleep.” 

“I’ll be right up.” 

Sabine hung up the phone and turned back to Adrien, studying his washed-out face. “How much is that transformation helping your illness?” 

Chat hesitated, then answered her question with another. “How did you know?” 

Sabine chuckled softly and shook her head. “Does it matter? Answer my question, honey.” 

“Not much,” he managed, glancing back at the toilet bowl and wrinkling his nose. His shoulders hitched at the sound of footsteps, and then Tom was stepping inside, handing over the Tylenol and cheese pastries. 

Chat groaned as the smell hit him, shaking his head. “No, no, please take them away. Plagg, claws off.” 

The transformation zipped up his body, leaving a trembling Adrien Agreste, wearing a baggy t-shirt and plaid pajama pants, sitting on their bathroom floor. A tiny black cat flew from his ring and up to the boy’s face, the cat’s eyes just as weary as Adrien’s. “You gonna be okay? I told you not to do that.” 

“I had to help,” Adrien groaned. His back burned under Sabine’s touch. 

Plagg glanced at the two adults, wary, and then looked to the cheese pastries in Tom’s hand. “Are...are those for me?” 

Tom was at a loss, but Adrien nodded weakly. “Go ahead, Plagg. I...the smell...I can’t, I’m going to-” 

He gagged, spinning to the toilet and puking again, and Plagg flinched, zooming up to Tom and pressing his tiny paws against the man’s hefty shoulders. “Yup, okay, I’ll be back when I’m done, kid.” 

Tom, though bewildered, shut the door behind them, and Sabine grabbed the medicine that her husband had brought. She squinted at the instructions, poured him a capful, and handed it over. “You should really be at the doctors for this, Adrien,” she said softly. 

Adrien downed the medication and coughed afterwards, pressing a hand to his mouth to keep from throwing it back up. When he managed to keep it down, he shook his head. “It...my father would pull me from everything if he thought it was this bad,” he whispered. “School, activities...everything. The akuma tonight just amplified it, I wasn’t throwing up before it. I should...I should be fine after I sleep.” 

He swallowed, lifting his glassy eyes to stare at Sabine again, and his voice was choked when he spoke. “Thank you,” he whimpered. “For...for the snacks, and the help and….and I guess not saying anything to anyone, even though I have n-no idea how you knew, but I-” 

“Hey, hey, honey,” Sabine murmured, brushing his hair back from his forehead. “It’s all right. Come on, we’ll get you a trash can and some blankets and you can sleep in the guest room tonight. Will your father-?” 

Adrien shook his head. “I was sleeping over at Nino’s. Nino won’t...won’t tell my father I left. It took us months to get him to agree to this. I just...have to be back at Nino’s house by noon, for when Nathalie comes to get me.” 

“We can arrange that,” Sabine assured him, helping him off the floor and flushing the toilet. 

“What about Marinette?” Adrien asked as they trudged towards the guest room. “Won’t she wonder why I’m here?” 

Sabine hesitated. “She….she usually sleeps in on weekends until around ten or eleven. You should be fine.” 

She settled Adrien down on the bed and he sighed, rubbing his eyes with his hands. “Can I have a glass of water?” he asked, soft and towards the floor, like he thought she would refuse. 

“Of course, honey. The trash can is right here if you need it. Make yourself comfy.” 

She found Tom in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, watching with fascination as Plagg downed what she assumed was another cheese Danish. “Everything all right in here?” 

Plagg tilted his head back to look at her, a smile on his cheeks. “Your husband is an amazing baker, I can see why you married him!” 

Sabine let a grin twitch onto her lips. “I like to think so myself. Will Adrien be okay?” 

Plagg sobered up, sitting straight and turning to face the parents. He still had danish on his whiskers. “He should be. When Miraculous holders get sick, it’s usually all at once, and very short, in order to ensure that they’ll be okay to fight. This started yesterday morning, so he should be fine by tomorrow night at the latest.” 

Sabine sighed, grabbing a cup and filling it with cold water. “Good.” 

“It is crucial that you don’t-” 

“Tell anyone, we know,” Tom said, rolling his eyes. “We’ve known for months, Plagg. Not just Adrien’s identity, either.” 

Plagg froze, glancing up at the ceiling. “You mean-?” 

“We know our daughter is Ladybug, yes,” Sabine said, keeping her voice low in case Adrien happened to be able to hear them. 

Something mischievous flickered in Plagg’s eyes. “You two really are pretty great. I can see why Adrien likes you so much.” 

Sabine flushed and held out a hand. “Come on. Let’s get you back to him so Tom can keep baking.” 

Plagg obliged, sinking into Sabine’s fingers and pointing at Tom with his stubby paw. “Keep those cheese pastries coming!” 

Tom’s lips twitched and he tilted his head. “Of course.” 

When Sabine walked back into the room, she found that Adrien had curled up into the bed and passed out, the trashcan at the floor next to his head. Plagg drifted over to the boy, resting his paws on his forehead, and nodded. “He’ll be okay,” he finally decided, looking back to Sabine as she set the glass of water down and drew the covers over Adrien’s body. “Thank you.” 

Sabine got the feeling Plagg didn’t say that often, so she reached out and scratched the tiny cat behind the ears just briefly. “Of course. You get some sleep too, honey.” 

Plagg’s eyes widened a bit, but he didn’t protest, merely curled up comfortably in Adrien’s hair and let his eyes drift closed. 

Sabine shut off the lights to the room and closed the door behind her, going down to Tom in the kitchen and watching him bake for a moment before speaking. “What now?” 

Tom hesitated, rolling the dough he was making between his hands. “Now?” 

“He knows we know.” 

“Maybe that’s for the best. Maybe it’s just one more thing we can do to help.” 

Sabine hummed and walked over to her husband, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. “The cat’s weird though, right?” 

“I don’t know, he likes my cheese pastries.” 

“Everyone likes your cheese pastries, Tom.” 

“Well yes, but Plagg is a sentient cat-god-thing, so that’s gotta count for something, right?” 

Sabine snorted. “Absolutely, dear.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tom would love Plagg to pieces and you all know it. I stg that man would feed the poor cat until he burst, and Plagg probably wouldn't even care.


End file.
